It’s easy to assume that interior designers have a vision for how they want to live, a perfected final plan that they can abide for a few years. After all, they’re in the biz. They see all, know what they want and can get it for a deal.
For many, though, the plans are never final for long.
Take the case of Chicago interior designer Julie Thoma Wright, who has a passion for Modernism and an insider’s track to the best trappings of the period as the wife and partner of Mid-Century dealer-cum-auctioneer Richard Wright, owner of Wright Modern Design gallery in Chicago. Her preference for innovation and change keep her home in constant flux, and the birth of a new baby last year further modified her design plans.
“My home is our personal style lab. We like visual change, and I also find it keeps my ideas sharper,” she says. It’s her cerebral workout, complete with the feel-good endorphins at the end: “I have an excellent visual memory and compose things mentally before I actually install them. Creating the imagery in my mind and then executing is not only stimulating–it’s the most satisfying aspect of my job,” she says.
Before their son, Emerson, was born in the spring of 2001, the Wrights’ home was an always-changing compendium of whatever Mid-Century pieces captivated their interest. “Richard has access to all the most interesting period pieces, and when he comes across the things that intrigue us, we try them out at home,” she says. They’ve lived with Modernist treasures by every major designer. The only room that has remained untouched by their passion for the period is that of her 17-year-old son, Nicholas.
But when Emerson was born, “the fragile furnishings and objects were put in storage until he’s older. Babies need to explore their environments,” explains Julie. These include an Isamu Noguchi lamp with a fragile shade, a Knoll coffee table with a sharp-edged glass top and a large collection of Venini glass and period ceramics by Italian, Nordic and American artisans. Yet there are still plenty of Mid-Century gems left to admire.
When the baby was born, the Wrights were just finishing the renovation of their new home, a building with a dizzying history of styles. It is an 1880s Victorian house in Hyde Park that had been modernized into a Bauhaus structure in the 1930s, then refurbished by another set of owners back to its original Victorian aesthetic in the 1950s. The Wrights restored it to its sleek Modernist state, installed the things they loved most, then had to put the delicate items away.
The pieces that remain are still heady selections for anyone enamored with this period, but the Wrights don’t consider themselves collectors. Instead, they see themselves as caretakers for these Modernist masterpieces and educators about the era, and have received professional recognition for those efforts.
Last summer Wallpaper magazine named them one of 10 “speculators and shapers . . . who will change the way we live,” noting that they “are responsible for helping to create the bullish market–and buoyant prices–for vintage designs.”
Julie puts it in a more emotional perspective: “We hold on to the things we’re really taken by to experience them, not just own them. For instance, right now we have a rare sofa in the living room by Danish designer Fin Juhl. It’s the only one Richard has ever come across in his entire career.”
That doesn’t mean it will stay in their living room forever; her penchant for change always prevails. “Richard and I are constantly experimenting. A new item may come in and we want to see what it’s like to live with.” she says.
While the Wrights aren’t wedded for life to most of the pieces in their home, a few things have stood the test of time. Wright is adamant that she will “never part with” a George Nakashima cabinet in the dining room, a Harry Bertoia gilt bronze sculpture that graces it and a George Nelson jewelry cabinet in her bedroom. But that still leaves plenty of room for change, which is fine by Julie, as she just came across a pair of Oscar Niemeyer chairs and an Achille Castiglione pendant lamp.
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RESOURCES
Dining room: Katavelos, Littell & Kelly tea chairs, Tobia Scarpa glass-top table for Knoll, Arredoluce floor lamp, Peter Peterson oil on canvas–Wright Modern Design, Chicago.
Living room: Pierre Paulin ribbon chair, T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings coffee table, Verner Panton carpet, Arredoluce floor lamp, Edward Wormley’s Natzler-tile table, Ray and Charles Eames folding screen, Stuart Davis Inland Steel building chair, Tapio Wirkkala porcelain–Wright Modern Design. Living room credenza: Florence Knoll credenza, moquette of site sculpture by Chicago artist Marie Zoe Greene-Mercier, plywood platter by Tapio Wirkkala, Sol LeWitt paper constructions, Coconut chair by George Nelson–Wright Modern Design. Pair of lamps–Broadway Antique Market, Chicago. Bookcase shot: Anonymous wood sculpture, Arredoluce lamp, Finn Juhl settee, Rose and Bernie Cabot and Rorstrand ceramics–Wright Modern Design. Kitchen: Rosenthal porcelains–Wright Modern Design. Dining room closeup: Katavelos, Littell & Kelly tea chairs, Tobia Scarpa glass-top table for Knoll, Nakashima credenza, Harry Bertoia gilt bronze sculpture, anonymous laminated wood and plastic sculpture, framed print–Wright Modern Design. Contemporary ceramic bowl–personal collection.
